Philadelphia Life and Style Blog with Authentic Inspiration, Achievable Style and Beauty, and Affordable Lifestyle for Ambitious Millennial Women

August 14, 2017

Blog Anniversary: 10 Lessons from 4 Years of Blogging

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WHOA.Today totally snuck up on me. Not too long ago, someone asked me how long I had been blogging. I thought it was kinda sorta somewhere in the ballpark of around now a few years back, but I wasn’t certain. So I snuck back into le archives, and sure enough…

Happy Blog Anniversary, Coming Up Roses!

Today is Coming Up Roses’ birthday/blog anniversary! CUR is 4 years old today, on the dot. How crazy is that?!

Not very crazy to most of ya, probably, but to me it feels like a blink + a lifetime all in one. I can close my eyes and remember doing one post a week from my tiny little college dorm room (or, lesssbehonest, in accounting lecture – ha!), so it still oh so totally blows my mind that it’s now my job. It’s such a fast-paced industry (that so many peeps don’t even know about yet!), and half the time (OK OK…3/4 of the time) I feel like I’m just hot messing my way through the week, trying to get content up before 10 am and emails answered before 3. I’m an extroverted person usually, but if I don’t have quiet time to myself to just chill out, relax, + reflect…I lose my mind. When time be a-flyin’, it’s like I need to literally stop the clock (+ shut down technology) to soul search + think bigger beyond my daily deadlines or weekly to-do’s.

This time last year, I whipped up 10 things I had learned in 3 years of blogging. I was trying to brainstorm something whitty + different for this year, but then I realized how many more tidbits I had picked up along the way and I had to share! SO. Here are 10 lessons for blogging + life to celebrate CUR’s 4th Blogiversary. 🙂

Discipline is underrated. And Lordy Lordy…I could use an added shot of discipline in my morning latte. You will never be anxious about being early/ahead with work. You WILL be anxious when you wait until the last possible hot sec and sit down at 5 AM to write a blog post from scratch for same-day publication (guilty…like, right now). Being able + willing to sacrifice an hour of Netflix for an hour of writing or inbox management can really pay off down the road – quite literally.

Photography is really friggin’ important. If ya ever want a chuckle, go back into the CUR archives and find some of the first posts here (cos they’re all still there!). CLEARLY, I was no photographer. Heck, I’m still not a photographer! But the difference in quality is so obvious it ain’t even funny. Honestly, I learned a bit too late in the game how important really *good* photos are in the blogging game. Not that things were awful by any means, but they definitely weren’t where they could’ve (+ should’ve) been! More opportunities are attached to better visual content, point blank period. It’s 100% worth it to invest in the lens, take the class, hire the help to ensure your photo game is top notch. (Here’s the camera kit I got when I finally upgraded my own camera!)

Stop working for free. That’s not to say know when to go above + beyond in an effort to build a relationship with a brand. You should ALWAYS go above + beyond. But free? No bueno. You can never complain about not making as much money or having as many opportunities as you think you want if you continue to lessen your worth to nothingness.

You can actually meet your best friends on the internet. I feel so insanely lucky (#blessed) to have met so many of my actual best friends online. And I mean best friends – girls that I can call and talking about everything but nothing with for hours, or call to plan a cross-country girls’ trip, or call in the middle of a meltdown, tears streaming down my face. When you truly embrace community over competition and go in looking to meet your soul sisters…you’ll find ’em. And then you’ll have 4 hour FaceTimes, weekly Skype dates, daily phone check-in’s, constant group texting, and trips around the country (+ world) with ’em. Shoutouts to Nina, Taylor, Rachel, Chelsie, Amanda. 😉

Spend more to make more. Really, invest in yo’self! And understand that not all investments will have immediate ROI. Heck…some investments might not have any ROI in the foreseeable future. That doesn’t mean that they’re not worth it. Also, this is more than money. For example: Spending more time now might free up more time for ya later. Redefine what ROI means to you in various situations, and make sure you’re using that as your guiding light and not just $$$.

Guard yo’ time. Lord knows how much I wish I could do #AllTheThings #AllTheTime. I’d take 42 hours in a day in a heartbeat. But things don’t work like that, and we’re all left with the same 24 hours as Beyonce, Jesus, and Jenny from the block. Saying yes to everything might get you some experience right outta the gate, but beyond that, it’s just gonna get you some major headaches on a fast track to burnout. Guard your time, and get comfy saying no to things that don’t actually bring you joy or positively impact your blog/biz/life/important peeps in it. And this ties right into a point above, too…you can’t work for free, cos you’ve only got a few hours in the day to get ish done. The more in demand your time becomes, the more justified you are in raising the price to account for that. That’s totally OK to do – that’s called supply + demand, and it’s the basis of economics! 😉

Honesty is the best policy. Always. ALWAYS. Hopefully by now y’all know that I’m *always* honest with ya. Whether we’re talking about facemasks for oily skin or how to deal with panic attacks, one of the most important things to me is for you guys to know that I’ve always got yo’ back. The whole reason I started CUR in the first place was to be a source of genuine inspiration + badassery…to be a positive place on the internet where you could come and feel like you were catching up with your best girlfriends over coffee or Cabernet. Why the heck would I lie to me besties?!?! For me, I swear by honesty. Through the good stuff AND the hard stuff. Go above + beyond to give real, honest value to people.

Numbers aren’t the whole picture. It’s really sad in today’s blogging day + age how many people cheat. Cheaters are among us, yo. There are those who manipulate algorithms, lie about numbers…heck, straight up BUY FOLLOWERS or buy engagement. That is INSANE to me. It’s so easy to see someone’s follower count on social media and internalize it one way or another – either that so-and-so is “better” than ya or that you’re not growing fast enough, yadda yadda yadda. But really tho…it’s a crock o’ bullshit. When you have NO CLUE about someone’s backstory (cos in most situation’s, we aren’t privy to that insight!), you canNOT compare their game to yours. That whole “don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle” rings true. Same goes for “don’t compare your honest game to someone’s BS.” 😉 I’ve heard of folks buying a few thousand Instagram followers to “get things going.” I’ve heard of girls buying likes + comments to seem more engaged. I’ve heard of peeps charging absurd amounts of money or promotion on accounts whose followings came entirely from giveaways or from using bot software to “grow.” And I haven’t just heard of it…I’ve used software + websites to track it with my own eyes. Lesson learned: numbers aren’t the whole picture.

Don’t just consume…CREATE. I learned the hard way that spending all of your time consuming content means you’ve got no time to CREATE content. Maybe that sounds like a DUH, E! moment, but I think it’s an easy trap to fall into as creators – especially when we’re privy to an endless abyss of knowledge called the internet. It’s easy to feel like you need to learnlearnlearn, but be careful of falling into inaction then, where you now never feel ready or able to go forth with creative confidence. At some point, you’ve just gotta bid Google adieu and focus on the one page in front of ya. Turn off the notifications, and focus on a vision. Figure out exactly what you’re trying to achieve WITH your creation…and then do just that.

And now, since I got swept up in archives while doing some personal blogiversary research, I figured I’d share a few personal faves from CUR’s 4th year… 😉

On this blog anniversary + beyond, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart to all of ya. You all have changed my life. As sappy + silly as that might sound, you really have. I feel like I’ve got this whole little group of girlfriends from around the world, all hangin’ out to point out the positives + make the world a bit more joyful and a bit more badass.

Cheers to 4 years, and hopefully many many more!

What would you like to see more of from CUR in the future?

Let me know down below – I’m planning out fall content, and I wanna make sure I plan for what YOU wanna see!

CURRENTLY CRAVING

IN MY MAKEUP BAG

Coming up Roses partners with several affiliate programs, meaning commission can be earned on sales of purchases by those who visit this site and on any Coming up Roses social media platforms. All products submitted to Coming Up Roses are subject to review and will be noted with a "c/o" (courtesy of) next to the credit upon its first placement, if featured. All views expressed on Coming Up Roses are Erica's alone, and she *ONLY* promotes products that she truly loveloveloves.

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